With our struggling public schools, I'm happy to roll the dice on E-SPLOST to see if significant capital expenditures will improve education across the board.

At this point, my guess is that SPLOST is facing a tougher battle than E-SPLOST. As noted in various reports in this paper, there's a growing list of interest groups unhappy with the allocations of the projected $445.3 million that would be collected by 2014.

Knowing that the Chamber is spearheading the public campaign in favor of the twin 1 percent sales taxes, I went to its Web site (www.savannahchamber.com) to get more information.

There's a handy PDF document that's essentially a PowerPoint presentation in favor of the two additional sales taxes.

The document and the billboards now dotting the county claim that SPLOST and E-SPLOST will lower property taxes.

That's a hard one to buy.

At best, the new sales taxes might forestall an increase in property taxes.

I say this because there are so many SPLOST projects that are not fully funded - all of which can be seen on another document on the Chamber's Web site - and so many infrastructure improvements that will require additional staffing or maintenance for decades.

For example, the $30 million set aside for "county-wide" road projects includes $4 million for "Skidaway Road Widening." That money will be spent only to acquire the needed right-of-way. Funds for utility relocation and construction will presumably come later.

Indeed, of the $30 million for the road projects, only $5 million will go toward actual construction.

Other numbers jumped out at me, too.

Apparently, 80 percent of sales tax revenue is raised within the city of Savannah but the city only gets 70 percent of the $229.3 million being distributed directly to municipalities.

In terms of total benefits, Tybee warrants only $8 million. Is that 2 percent share commensurate with Tybee's importance to the county?

And do we need to spend $2 million for a water park?

Still, I'll vote for SPLOST because I believe there's real merit in many of the expenditures. Given the high crime rate and the number of inmates, $100 million doesn't seem unreasonable to me to expand the county jail.

And even though I support the jail expansion, I'm troubled by the $125,000 cost per bed. In San Bernardino County, Calif., a 900-bed jail expansion is being done for about $96,000 per bed. Mohave County, Ariz., is building a new 848-bed jail for $59 million, just under $70,000 per bed.

I'm all for Savannah's new $80 million arena and Public Safety Headquarters. I like that $6.5 million will go toward a children's museum and infrastructure at Battlefield Park. And I'm thrilled to see even a measly $1 million earmarked for engineering work to prepare for the eventual removal of the I-16 flyover at MLK.

However, I'm sure that many readers disagreed with everything I said in that last paragraph.

The delicate political balancing act for SPLOST proponents over the next week will be to convince enough voters that there's adequate good to balance their concerns over needless expenditures.

Part of the problem for the SPLOST advocates is that recent events have led to a deep disconnect between many community leaders and many members of the public.

Deservedly or not, political leaders have lost credibility over crime.

Planning officials have lost credibility over the proposed widening of DeRenne.

And the Chamber and the Convention & Visitors Bureau, which has been an arm of the Chamber but is becoming increasingly autonomous, lost credibility with many of us over the new "Savannah Est. 1733" branding campaign.

This has left some of us wondering if there are any organizations that we should trust to guide Savannah to a more prosperous future.

While I was nosing around the Chamber's Web site, I clicked on the button for "Convention & Visitors Bureau." It's not a link to the CVB Web site (www.savannahvisit.com), but to an essay of sorts promoting the city.

I suppose one could defend the florid prose of sentences like this:

"Savannah's streets are waiting to be discovered at your own leisurely pace by foot, trolley, sea or majestic steed and coachman tour guide whose carriage awaits to fulfill your inquisitiveness."

Still, I'd have my red pen out on that one.

The document also contains many outright errors.

Pyromaniac tourists might be lured by the talk of cuisine with "international flare," but I suspect "flair" would work better there.

Woodpiles might appreciate the promise of "a restaurant to satisfy everyone's pallet," but the average tourist simply has a "palate."

There are also at least seven other blatant grammar and usage errors.

The same text is on the CVB's Web site under the "Press Room" link. So, presumably, it's one of the first things that reporters writing about Savannah are encouraged to read.

Curiously, nearly five months after the launch of the "Savannah Est. 1733." brand, the CVB Web site graphics still promote "Savannah, Georgia's First City."

And as of Friday, the CVB home page still touted "Summer in Savannah" and listed August events.